Slovak Rapid Division

The Slovak Rapid Division was a 7,000-strong division of the Slovak Republic that was formed on 8 July 1941 for Operation Barbarossa. Led by Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, the division consisted of the 20th and 21st Motorized Rifle Divisions of the Slovak army and the 11th Reconnaissance Battalion, and it accompanied Army Group South during the invasion of the Soviet Union. In 1942, the unit fought at Rostov-on-Don and in the Caucasus, and the division returned to Slovakia on 28 July 1943. 2,500 Slovaks were lost in the war with the USSR from 1941 to 1943, and the division became an infantry division in 1944.